The best fox spirits in anime are often some of the most popular characters in the show. Fox spirits such as kitsune (sometimes also known as youko) are prevalent figures throughout Japanese mythology. Naturally, they often pop up in film, literature, and, of course, anime as well.
True to their mythological counterparts, fox spirits are intensely powerful and often quite long-lived. They’re playful at best and actively petty and malicious at worst, preferring trickery to destruction even when quite capable of the latter. Their strongest traits, however, are their intelligence and cunning, which help them stay alive longer than even their many magic-filled tails.
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11 Tama And Jinka Aim To Change The Sengoku Era
Sengoku Youko
One of the most anticipated anime of Winter 2024 stars two clever spirits trying to right the wrongs of the Sengoku Era. The younger is Jinka, a spirit-raised boy with a bitter distaste for all humans. The elder is Tama, a 200-year-old youko with supreme optimism for the future. Together, they form a nearly unstoppable team.
As their new ronin friend Shinsuke discovers, the foster siblings are traveling Japan smiting evildoers with their boundless spiritual powers. Tama, the only full spirit between the two, is able to lend Jinka some of her power to wield in battle. Jinka, for his part, thirsts to become a true kitsune, and his Spiritual Awakening form gains more tails the stronger he gets.
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10 Kurama Is The Demon Other Demons Fear
Yu Yu Hakusho
Like a fox, the youko Kurama is sly, clever, and, as he himself states, truly vicious when backed into a corner. Killed in his first life, he survived by possessing the body of an unborn child. Though he’s reluctant to admit it, he loves and is deeply protective of his new human mother and younger brother.
Though it’s clear Kurama is plenty strong right from when Yusuke meets him, it’s only when he fights other demons that his reputation really becomes clear. One of the most powerful anime characters who controls plants, he wields his Rose Whip brutally and happily. Lesser demons run in terror: Kurama never has any intentions of drawing out a fight, intending every blow to be lethal.
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9 Renamon Is Wise & Powerful
Digimon Tamers
Rika’s Digimon partner, Renamon is deeply serious about their mission and even deeply loyal to Rika. What she lacks in brute strength she makes up for in ferocity and determination, and she’s often able to beat much stronger Digimon through strategic and clever approaches to combat
Renamon is her rookie form, but when she Digivolves, she gains stronger vulpine features even as her appearance becomes more humanoid. Kitsune are considered sacred in Shinto belief, which is reflected in the forms of Taomon and Sakuyamon, clad to resemble Taoist monks and Shinto shrine maidens, respectively. Her Champion form Kyuubimon reflects the belief that kitsune gain more tails the older and wiser they become.
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8 Hakumen No Mono
Ushio And Tora
Its face might look more like a horrifically stretched vulture than a fox, but Hakumen no Mono is a true-blue kitsune. Of all the youkai threatening Ushio Aotsuki and his youkai partner Tora, it is the most evil and the one that frightens all of its own kind. Its deathly pale color and nine thrashing tails signal that it’s very old and very strong.
Many fox spirits in anime and beyond lack specific weaknesses. However, Hakumen no Mono fears the Beast Spear that stopped its last catastrophic attack hundreds of years ago. The weapon is the only thing capable of stopping the youkai from destroying humanity altogether with its devastating magical powers, but it takes its true pleasure in sowing mistrust and chaos among humans and youkai alike.
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7 Izumo’s Fox Spirits Are Powerful, But Disdainful
Blue Exorcist
Izumo Kamiki, as anime-only viewers are about to discover, has a very strong connection to foxes. Her snappish, cold behavior hides deep pain and insecurity from her past trauma, much of which centers around the effects of the insidious Nine-Tailed Fox Spirit on her family. The Nine-Tails has a particularly insidious effect on humans it possesses, exacerbating
As a naturally skilled Tamer, thanks to their family connection, Izumo can summon familiars with which to fight demons, using a variety of different techniques. Her go-to pair, white Byakko named Miketsu and Ukemochi, only respect strong exorcists, and are as likely to give Izumo grief about summoning them as they are to actually help her. When she first summons the siblings, they sense weakness and turn on her viciously.
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6 Shippo Is A Magician Among Fox Youkai
Inuyasha
In one of the best anime based on Japanese mythology, Shippo the fox youkai stands out even among a cast full of famous creatures. Being young and inexperienced, he has only one tail to speak of, but that doesn’t slow him down. He’s the son of a powerful kitsune and holds immense potential to grow up to be even greater, much like Inuyasha and his own father.
For now, though, Shippo doesn’t share the brute strength of some of his friends. His abilities mainly lie in his shapeshifting, which never quite hides his vulpine features, and his magical skills. Like a cunning fox, he distracts and deceives the team’s enemies long enough for the others to get the upper hand or even land fatal blows.
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5 Tokyo’s Kitsune Say, “If You Can’t Beat Humans, Join Them”
Pom Poko
Tanuki ,or Japanese raccoon dogs, are quite real, but very similar to foxes, they have a notable place in Japanese mythology. In fact, the benevolent and carefree tanuki are often pitted as rivals to the more refined and cunning kitsune, so often that there’s even a term for their quarrels: kori no tatakai. Naturally, this makes the kitsune the obvious foil to the tanuki in one of the most underrated Studio Ghibli movies.
The creatures of Tokyo’s wild places deal in different ways with the steady encroachment of human civilization into their homes. While the tanuki band together and attempt to fight back, they’re ultimately overwhelmed and forced to admit defeat. Meanwhile, the shapeshifting kitsune have already assimilated into human society, and though they initially make fun of the tanuki, they’re willing to help the ones who can transform live human lives too, and are genuinely upset to have to leave behind the tanuki who can’t.
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4 Ninetales Is Heavily Influenced By The Kitsune
Pokémon
The more tails a kitsune has, the more powerful it is, with nine-tailed spirits being the oldest and strongest. Evolving from Vulpix, a little kit with only six tails, Ninetales is based on this aspect of mythology. Its normal form’s soft golden color and its Alolan form’s icy blue-white color – the latter of which doubles as resembling an Arctic fox – reference how a kitsune turns white once it gains its ninth tail.
The Fox Pokémon doesn’t appear often in the anime, but game lore uncovers several more similarities it has with its mythological counterpart. Its nine tails are said to contain immense mystical power and grant the Pokémon a centuries-long life. It is fiercely intelligent and cunning, but tends to be vindictive, cursing anyone who dares to touch its precious tails.
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2 Gintarou Is A Loyal Shrine Guardian And Friend
Pokémon Ultimate Journeys: The Series
Pokemon Ultimate Journeys: The Series continues the adventures of Pokemon Trainer Ash Ketchum and newcomers Goh and Chloe as they all chase their dreams together. Though Ultimate Journeys is marketed as a separate series, it also acts as the beginning of the 25th season and beyond of the ’90s animated series.
Gingitsune
In Shinto belief, Inari is the god of rice, tea, sake, agriculture, warriors, blacksmiths, and, of course, foxes. Traditionally, Inari’s messengers are white foxes of the sort that originally carried them down from heaven. Gintarou is one such fox, who has watched over the Saeki shrine to Inari for fifteen generations.
Gintarou’s job isn’t just to guard the shrine: he also serves as a mentor to the shrines’ human heirs. Makoto, the next in line after her mother’s death, is the only one who can see him. Though he tries to act aloof and unaffected, Gintarou loves his friend deeply and is highly interested in human affairs, even in a society steadily moving away from spiritualism.
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1 Kurama Is The Strongest Tailed Beast
Naruto
From the first seconds of Naruto, the Nine-Tailed Fox is teased as one of the most fearsome monsters in the shinobi world. It nearly destroyed the Leaf Village, and Naruto is shunned his entire childhood for having the Fox sealed inside him. For all of Part One, it is a menacing presence; tapping into its power protects Naruto, but in keeping with fox spirits’ penchant for shapeshifting, transforms him into something bestial.
In Shippuden, as Naruto discovers his true potential and the other Tailed Beasts are revealed, the Fox is much more fleshed out as well. For one thing, he has a name — Kurama — that he hasn’t been called by in centuries, and, like Naruto, he harbors a lot of anger and bitterness at being mistreated by humans for so long. To fully harness his power, Naruto realizes that the secret isn’t to subdue Kurama: it’s to befriend him.
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